Mental Health A-Z

Medicare Locals are primary health care organisations established under the Australian Government’s National Health Reforms to co‑ordinate primary health care delivery and manage local health care needs and service gaps.

Mental health-related medications typically refers to five selected medications groups as classified under the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (World Health Organization), namely anti‑psychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics and sedatives, anti‑depressants, and psycho-stimulants and nootropics.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is the help provided to a person who is developing a mental health problem, or who is in a mental health crisis, until appropriate professional treatment is received or the crisis resolves. MHFA skills are taught through courses which teach mental health first-aid strategies in evidence-based training programs.

Knowledge and beliefs about mental illness which can impact problem recognition, mental illness management and prevention.

Disturbances of mood or thought that can affect behaviour and distress the person or those around them, so the person has difficulties in daily life functioning. They include a range of illness such as the more common anxiety disorders and depression to the less common schizophrenia.

A national collaboration between the National Mental Health Commission, business, government and the mental health sector. The Alliance aims to create mentally healthy workplaces across Australia, in small and large business across all sectors.

Discrimination at the personal level; for example, discriminatory attitudes in the workplace by co‑workers.

How individuals are singled out, treated as ‘different’ or ignored repeatedly during the everyday interactions of life and is based on discrimination (which is not necessarily intentional). The cumulative impact of such interactions can be significant.

Defines the way health services are delivered. It outlines the group or series of services which are required for the optimum treatment of a person or population group for a specific injury or illness, those required across the stages of treatment and across the stages of care (from acute through to non‑acute and rehabilitation) whether that be provided in the community or hospital/facility or by different services.